Accidental Vs. Deliberate Exposure
Laser users must take appropriate precautions to avoid accidents. (Some steps are outlined below in the section "Reducing the hazard".) In most cases, an accidental exposure is likely to be one or a few brief flashes, as the aircraft moves through a stationary beam, or as a hand-held beam sweeps over the cockpit.
There have been cases of deliberate intent, where someone through ignorance or malice deliberately aimed a laser at an aircraft. Note that no one should ever deliberately aim a laser at an aircraft. It can result in pilot distraction, and may well result in searches by authorities to find the source. There have been a number of cases reported where laser pointer users were arrested and tried; a few have even gone to jail. Such incidents also can lead to calls to license or ban laser pointers.
Whether an accidental or deliberate exposure, any pilot seeing a flash should avoid looking in the direction of the light, since it may be quickly followed by additional flashes.
Read more about this topic: Lasers And Aviation Safety
Famous quotes containing the words accidental and/or deliberate:
“As she laughed I was aware of becoming involved in her laughter
and being part of it, until her teeth were only accidental stars with
a talent for squad-drill.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Simile and Metaphor differ only in degree of stylistic refinement. The Simile, in which a comparison is made directly between two objects, belongs to an earlier stage of literary expression; it is the deliberate elaboration of a correspondence, often pursued for its own sake. But a Metaphor is the swift illumination of an equivalence. Two images, or an idea and an image, stand equal and opposite; clash together and respond significantly, surprising the reader with a sudden light.”
—Sir Herbert Read (1893–1968)